Make a holiday keepsake

On returning for a fabulous holiday on Florida we found that hundreds of shells from the appropriately named Shell Beach on Sanibel had been stashed away in our luggage. I suggested that the children make a clay tile to contain the shells. My thinking being that this would be a fun project that would look nice and also keep the shells under control! Kids being kids however, they had their own ideas and instead decided to use the shells to press into the air drying clay to create a relief pattern. Not what I had in mind but I have to admit it worked out pretty well. I added the date and location as a little reminder to them for when they get older. My son had great fun painting his with acrylic paints, choosing his colours to reflect the sea and sand and experimenting with flicking the paint on in the style of the spray. A nice way to remember a lovely family holiday. And yes, I still have thousands of tiny shells kicking around!